Zimbabwe's ruling party says it will initiate steps to amend the constitution so President Emmerson Mnangagwa can run for a third term in the 2028 elections. The opposition is strongly opposed to amending the 2013 constitution, which limited presidents to two five-year terms.
In an interview Thursday with VOA, Ziyambi Ziyambi, Zimbabwe's minister of justice, legal and parliamentary affairs, said the government is ready to move forward once lawmakers introduce the bill to amend the constitution.
“Is there a prohibition in amending anything in the constitution?” Ziyambi said. “The only prohibition, the only clause that I know in the constitution, it says any electoral amendments have to be done six months before an election for that amendment to be used in the coming election. Anything else I'm not aware.”
Lovemore Madhuku, a law professor at the University of Zimbabwe and an opposition leader, said it will be difficult though not impossible for the ruling Zanu-PF party to change the constitution in time for its leader to run in the 2028 election.
“Legally, yes you can go through the steps,” Madhuku said. “The steps will require a publication of the first bill, give Zimbabweans a 90-day period to debate it. Thereafter, take it to parliament. It must get a two-thirds majority, and thereafter there must be a referendum. That alone tells you that it is very difficult. It cannot be assumed that since Zanu-PF has a two-thirds majority [in parliament], they will obtain the two-thirds majority.”
Douglas Mwonzora, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change party, said the MDC will campaign vehemently against the bid to have Mnangagwa stand for a third term.
Mwonzora, who is a lawyer, said one referendum will not suffice for Mnangagwa to stand in 2028.
“They will need another referendum,” Mwonzora said. “This time specifically, stating whether or not President Mnangagwa must stand again and these two referendums must not be within six months of one another.
“We will campaign for a no vote again not because we have anything personal against President Mnangagwa, we think that President Mnangagwa after his term should go and rest, we think it’s time for other leaders, so we will campaign no in that regard.”
But Ziyambi said Zanu-PF will overcome all obstacles in the way of Mnangagwa’s third term.
“Zanu-PF is a mass party. Our structures are to the grassroot from village level, so when we are doing resolutions, that's where they start,” Ziyambi said. “It’s not the top leadership that say that they want anything.”
Ziyambi said Mnangagwa said he has been clear that he wants to abide by the constitution, but the push for the resolution to allow him to run for a third term is coming from the grassroots level.
President Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years before Mnangagwa, a former army general and Mugabe’s vice president took power in a 2017 coup.
Mnangagwa is 82 years old and is currently the fifth oldest head of state in Africa.
